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Homemade dog puzzles

I thought there might already be a thread about homemade dog puzzles, but I couldn't find it. Anyway, I know a lot of you make puzzle toys for your dogs. I would love to know what you make yours out of.

I recently made one for my sheltie, using an empty oatmeal container with a small hole cut in the lid - just big enough for one piece of kibble to fit through. She has to pick it up by the bottom to get the treats to fall out, and it keeps her occupied for twenty minutes or so.

Wrapping treats in a towel also works quite well for us. I'd love to hear what your ideas are.

Re: Homemade dog puzzles

Cut up small (but not small enough to eat/swallow) small squares or strips of towel/old sheet/whatever, and tie some smelly treats up in them. Great for pups who are really smart and like problem solving. You can make the knots as simple or as complicated as you like - when I'm starting sometimes I just wrap the cloth around the treat for the first little bit, so the dog can learn that there is a treat inside... then get a bit more complicated as time goes on.

You can also do something similar with a homemade fleece-braid tug-toy. Once you've braided it you can slip treats in between the strands.

Re: Homemade dog puzzles

I tried the cloth one once. Sassy swallowed the cloth knot. Fun couple of days waiting for it to reappear. Forget what I put in there, could have had something to do with her eating it. And if it was larger it probably would have been just fine. Human error!

All of these work better with dry treats so the puzzle part doesn't taste good and the dog chews on it.

All food boxes are turned into food puzzles here, Max insists. We put a single tiny goodie in and tape or redo the flaps. He has a ball smashing the box and ripping it open for something like a 1/4" square of Parmesan cheese rind. Be careful though. I put the treat into a 24 can soda box and his head fit nicely in the opening. He was a bit upset by getting trapped by the box.

Used to make 'party crackers' for the dogs by wrapping a treat in paper, stuffing the paper in paper towel rolls and wrapping in more paper. Very fun and very messy! Be careful, I did that with the tube that came from upholstery fabric and Max had one of his seizures that night. Be sure the tube is safe, I suspect the fabric could have been sprayed with some sort of pesticide.

I made a fetch stuffie with a short length of PVC pipe and caps, it was hard to open and close so kind of a flop for training purposes. If you have an odd length laying around you could easily cap it, drill a hole or two in it so it can be rolled around to dispense the treats and the cap could be removed well enough to clean and reload.

Re: Homemade dog puzzles

Originally Posted by Kathyy

If you have an odd length laying around you could easily cap it, drill a hole or two in it so it can be rolled around to dispense the treats and the cap could be removed well enough to clean and reload.

Brilliant. Next time I'm in Home Depot I will get the materials and try this!

Re: Homemade dog puzzles

Another word of caution that I hope is obvious but worth saying. Don't use empty bags like potato chip bags or plastic bags. Use solid things that are pretty firm (like cardboard, plastic bottles, and wood as mentioned) and ALWAYS supervise in case the dog somehow gets stuck to the toy.

I heard of a corgi pretty recently who got into a trash can while the owners were out and got his head stuck in a potato chip bag. He suffocated since he couldn't get it off, it was sealed onto his head as every time he tried to breathe in it got tighter. Very tragic and traumatic to say the least. Putting a treat in a plastic bag would not be a good puzzle.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” ― Mahatma Gandhi